Ive been at it all yesterday trying to get everything working. Ive managed to
figure out most things. About the 32bit dis problem with 7.0. I wrote it out of
context, I read on this forum that there was a problem with the conversion
from .tif to .map and that 8.0 had a plugin for it that 7 didnt. There is a .bat
file I downloaded that changes any image I drop into it into a .map file which
now works perfectly inside of MAYA. for some reason the imf_copy utillity thats
part of MAYA just wasnt working for me. This is a little off topic so ill continue.
With your setup, that is the workflow ive been using. Ive frequented those same
threads you posted to try to find my answers. Thanks for dropping in by the way and writing it down. Well, majority of my problem stems from two different things
that I found on two different threads on this site, one is the SEARCH DISTANCE,
by finding a correct search distance, it gives you a cleaner map without spikes which I was getting.
Secondly, was better understanding the way MUDBOX displaces by using RAYS, it basically shows that its better to have geometry that doesnt overlap and
creases and to do those inside the mudbox program itself. Ive been spending a lot of time finding out answers to common problems and majority stems back to how your mesh is created and UV mapped. In your tutorial, I think you should cover this in depth as well, because thats where I think the most problems are occuring and showing examples of how to fix would be great. The program mudbox workflow and creation of maps is FANTASTIC!! I love how easy it is, and how its very similar to MAYA as far as moving.
I know these simple steps may help others with better renders and workflow out of MAYA & MUDBOX:
0. I would scale your model that you are exporting from MAYA into mudbox as .obj by at least 150, so that MUDBOX tool settings are best used (Personal Approach)
Then re import your .obj file into your MAYA scene which is now 1 1 1 - after your finished with creating your MUDBOX displacement.
Re-scale back down in MAYA to your desired width and height EX: 0.2 scale, from there change the ALPHA GAIN Inside your Displacement to how much you scale your object by so the map aligns perfectly and fits the object. EX: 0.2 in Alpha Gain.
----------> This is purelly my own setup that I do because when I import my object in MUDBOX, it uses such small settings and creates extreme strokes with the different brushes, because of the size issue. To make the tools do what I want, I do this approach as its like using a default MUDBOX Cube, size wise... Im sure theres other approaches.....
1. Use your POLYGON/Cleanup utility <--------- Very important before you create your .obj file.
2. Make sure everything is quads or Tris!
3. Make sure your UV map has no overlapping and does not go into the negative UV space!! Also keep it inside the UV texture Editor bounding box and dont have your map stray on the edges.
4. Make sure your open geometry in your model can be hidden and brought in, EX: the eyes, you should either try to pull them back inside your models head or close as it does sometimes create spike. ( To help with this problem, finidng the right Search distance inside Mudbox will help get rid of them) Also keep away from overlapping your geometry and creases, do those inside mudbox!
5. Open your 32bit displacement map in HDRSHOP to check for spikes and problems as you may need to re bake it in Mudbox to get better results (! Is there a program that opens 32bit that your able to fix these changes with, ive been having problems with photoshop??)
These helped me so I figured I would help others who may run into these same issues I faced...
Two things I still need to address in the program now are, first I get the "error
disk space issue" only when I size my map to 2048 by 2048 with a 32bit displacement. All the other settings stay the same and always render out whether I put them to high or good, etc. But when I change the width and height, for some reason I get the 90% Crash and need to reopen it? I dont know if that is a personal problem or if others have faces the same thing?????
and Last - Detail. I have been doing my best to get the most detail out of my displacement so that it matches best in MAYA to the way it looks in MUDBOX. Ide love to see other peoples setups of Low poly model - Mudbox model - mudbox settings - and Mental Ray settings -and results to get better results for myself.
Until I find a way to almost match the look of Mudbox inside MAYA, what I do now is have my displacement for my main detail, and a bump map for the suttle detail of pores etc. It works great for now...
Ill be sure to post more of my results as I get better...
SEL